Sicko Evisceration

David Hogberg, writing at American Spectator, has an excellent point-by-point evisceration of Michael Moore's recent speech advocating "HillaryCare"-style social medicine in the U.S. In his article, he takes the specific points Moore made and rebuts them, one at a time. Here's a sample:

3. "I believe that pharmaceutical companies need to be regulated like a public utility. We need medicine, but we need government control and regulation, so that the medicine is affordable for everyone, so that we are producing the right medicines, so that we are producing safe medicines."

Someone who makes such a remark must know next to nothing about the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA's regulatory process for new drug approval averages eight-to-ten years. That adds a huge cost to new drugs. We need to find ways to reduce this regulatory burden. Moore wants to increase it. Anyone who believes that will make medicine more affordable, or that government will be able to figure out how to produce the "right medicine," please purchase a one-way ticket to Fantasyland.

But go read the whole thing if you'd like to understand just how the liberals would like to destroy the quality of U.S. health care. He's particularly good on the role of the profit motive in medicine.

One clearly observable pesky fact keeps getting in the way of the Democrats attempts to "fix" our health care system: by any rational measure, the U.S.'s health care system is the very best in the world, and the source of the vast majority of medical discoveries and innovations.

The clearest evidence for this assertion: where does anyone, anywhere in the world, choose to go for their health care (if they have the option). Why, the United States, of course. Check the patient list at the Mayo Clinic or any other major hospital, and you'll find many foreign patients. Then check the patient lists at any hospital in Canada, England, German, France, Sweden, etc. for American patients.

Oops.

And the Democrats want to turn health care system into the mess that it is in so many other countries. Want the real story? Talk to a Canadian or an Englishman about their health care system. You'll quickly discover that they have a long list of problems -- especially with rationing and unavailable treatments -- that vex them. People there who think about health care lust for our system! There's a message there, Dummocrats...

Estonia Mourns

Today's news brings this sad story:

Estonia went into mourning on Sunday for two of its soldiers killed in Afghanistan - the first time the Baltic state has lost troops in the country.

Twenty-four-year-old Sergeant Kalle Torn and 33-year-old Corporal Jako Karuks, both mine-clearance specialists, were killed in the southern province of Helmand on Saturday, the Estonian Defense Ministry announced.

Estonia has about 200 troops deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq; they are a member of the "coalition of the willing", and have been ever since the NATO administration of Afghanistan and the Iraq war began. Some people I've mentioned this too have laughed at the small size of Estonia's contingent -- but that reaction misses something important. Estonia is a tiny little country with only about 1.5 million citizens -- about 1/200th the size of the U.S. In proportional terms, their contingent is about the same as 40,000 U.S. troops -- a sizable contribution, and one which I am most grateful for.

With these two casualties in Afghanistan, Estonia now has a total of four casualties between the two conflicts -- proportionally, this is like 800 U.S. casualties. Not only is their contribution substantial -- so is the price they have paid.

Thank you, Estonia, for your participation in these unhappy, but necessary, efforts to combat the evil of radical Islamic fundamentalism.
And thank you for standing by your ally -- the United States -- in its time of need...